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Post by dem bones on May 15, 2008 17:50:31 GMT
I know I'm forever moaning about the trend toward bigger books and that, but you have to hand it to the Robinson Mammoth series as, without them, who else would cater for our fiendish needs beyond the wonderful but often pricey small presses? We've had mammoth Vampires, Erotica, Werewolves, Zombies, Ghosts modern, Victorian and Edwardian, Monsters, Erotica, Haunted Houses, eighteen Years Best New Horror's and rising, Horror Comics, Frankenstein, Dracula, Terror, New Terror, Erotica, Chillers, Jack The Ripper, Bikers, Boys Own Stuff, Erotica .... Apart from giving us a mammoth brain-strain trying to figure out how and where we're going to stack all these enormous books, the series has provided us with much of the best and, depending on your point of view, sometimes worst the horror genre can throw at us since the mid-eighties(!), while catering for several other Vault pet obsessions in the process! I'm toying with the idea of giving them a section to themselves, but in the meantime: The Mammoth Books: which are your favourites? *Relax. I'm not gonna try and post a 'random cover' again. Knowing my luck, I'd probably wind up with this one * See what I mean? What am I doing wrong?
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alansjf
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 107
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Post by alansjf on May 15, 2008 21:41:43 GMT
Indeed - all hail the Mammoths!
Favourites? Well, all the Jones, Dalby and Haining volumes I've read have much to recommend them, but there are two in particular I think deserve the top spot, and for the same reason too - David Case.
Jones' The Mammoth Book of Werewolves, which reprints 'The Cell', and Mike Ashley's Mammoth Book of Short Horror Novels, featuring 'Fengriffin'. Hadn't read any David Case before picking up these two books, and he's been a favourite ever since.
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Post by dem bones on May 16, 2008 6:09:40 GMT
David Case! Van Thal performed a service by recycling the bulk of The Cell and Fengriffen over the Pan Horrors otherwise I wonder how many of us would have heard of him? Have you read Case's Wolf Tracksnovel? I keep meaning to have a rematch with that one because I seem to recall being disappointed with it on first reading? Oh, and Stephen Jones' The Mammoth Book Of New Terror - which is certainly one of my favourite selections even if I don't own a copy - revives Among The Wolves from Pan Horror #15. BTW: Really enjoyed your post on Mammoth Best New Horror # 18, alan.
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alansjf
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 107
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Post by alansjf on May 16, 2008 8:52:22 GMT
No, haven't read Wolf Tracks, or The Third Grave for that matter - but they're both on that never-ending list of books I've been meaning to get around to, but haven't yet.
Case is one of those writers crying out for a Best Of or Collected Stories, not least because The Cell and Fengriffin are a) uncommon and b) pricey if you do come across copies.
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Post by stuyoung on Aug 19, 2010 9:11:02 GMT
The Mammoth Book of Future Cops(2003). But only 'cos I'm in it. Plus some no-hopers like Philip K Dick, China Mieville and Joe Haldeman.
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Post by lemming13 on Aug 20, 2010 19:46:12 GMT
Ooh, spoiled for choice. But I think I'm going to go for Horror Comics, combining my love of pulp fiction with my love of OTT, in-yer-face gruesome imagery.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 20, 2010 22:50:16 GMT
the only ones i've read cover to cover are Mike Ashley's Short Horror Novels, Stephen jone's Vampires, the first Richard Dalby Ghost Stories and both editions of Jakubowski & Braund's Jack The Ripper. But i guess that's the joy of the Mammoths - they can keep you going for years.
Mike Ashley - Short Horror Novels (mainly for the David Case, Oliver Onions, T. E. D. Klein, Russell Kirk and Lucius Shepard contributions. It's probably heresy to say so, but i could have done without Algernon Blackwood's The Damned) Richard Dalby - Ghost Stories (like one of the 'thirties Centuries or Mammoth's only better) Richard Dalby - Ghost Stories 2 Richard Dalby - Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories Peter Haining - Haunted House Stories (his work for Robinson's was a return to form after the patchy William Kimber years. R.I.P.) Peter Haining - Modern Ghost Stories Peter Haining - True Hauntings (posthumous, "non-fiction" and lovely) Maxim Jakubowski and Nathan Braund - Jack The Ripper (the 1999 original, not the 2008 which has a revamped line-up) Stephen Jones & Ramsey Campbell - Best New Horror 1 Stephen Jones - Best New Horror 6 Stephen Jones - New Terror Stephen Jones - Vampires (the 2nd edition, 2004 - which i don't have - substituting the over-familiar classics of the 1992 original with contributions from Syd Bounds, Nancy Kilpatrick, Simon Clark, Christopher Fowler, Tina Rath, John Burke & Co.) Stephen Jones - Wolf Man (Werewolves reprint with bonus story) Stephen Jones - Zombies (just five stories left to go and not a duff moment yet) Peter Normanton - Best Horror Comics (nostalgia for people who weren't actually born when these were first published)
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Post by ripper on Sept 7, 2010 8:45:17 GMT
I think that my favourite Mammoth's are:
Ghost Stories 1 and 2 by Richard Dalby Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories by Richard Dalby Haunted House Stories by Peter Haining True Hauntings by Peter Haining
The Dalby collections introduced me to many authors of whom I had not heard and led me to seek more of their work. The Mammoth's represent excellent VFM and scanning through the list of available volumes there seems to be something for every taste.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 7, 2010 10:06:31 GMT
wonderful selection, that, Rip. i'm glad you mentioned Mammoth Book of True Hauntings as it was a wonderful way for Peter Haining to go out (it was published approaching the first anniversary of his death), taking him full circle, really, when you consider the first book he ever had published was the "non fiction" investigation into Devil Worship In Britain (Corgi, 1963)
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Post by lemming13 on Sept 8, 2010 17:07:42 GMT
My daughter would agree with you there, Dem; she nicked my copy the moment I put it down (though she has skipped the segment on sexual encounters with ghosts, since she's still at an age to find the whole subject utterly - and I quote - 'EEEEEEWWWWW!'). If I ever get it back, I'll be very surprised.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 8, 2010 18:54:04 GMT
My daughter would agree with you there, Dem; she nicked my copy the moment I put it down (though she has skipped the segment on sexual encounters with ghosts, since she's still at an age to find the whole subject utterly - and I quote - 'EEEEEEWWWWW!'). If I ever get it back, I'll be very surprised. there's nothing else for it - you'll have to ask her nicely if you can at least borrow it, as it's a lovely one to dip in and out of. The 'sexual encounters with ghosts' chapter relies heavily on reports from such reliable sources as The News Of The World and The Daily Star, so the slant is on phantom flashers of Pendle, possessed members of the Young Generation & Co., and all the better for it if you ask me. and for ghost fiction fans, his Mammoth Book Of Haunted House Stories is among his later career highlights.
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Post by ripper on Sept 9, 2010 11:48:31 GMT
Mammoth True Hauntings was a fitting way for PH to take his final bow. It's a very entertaining read with a wide variety of cases. If you're after a scholarly treatment of alleged hauntings then look elsewhere, but for sheer entertainment I think it takes some beating.
Mammoth Haunted House Stories is also a really good collection, and I liked the manner in which each tale was introduced, i.e. as though the location for each story was in an estate agent's catalogue...very novel and engaging I thought.
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Post by cw67q on Sept 9, 2010 13:52:19 GMT
My daughter would agree with you there, Dem; she nicked my copy the moment I put it down (though she has skipped the segment on sexual encounters with ghosts, since she's still at an age to find the whole subject utterly - and I quote - 'EEEEEEWWWWW!'). If I ever get it back, I'll be very surprised. That reminds me of a very old joke, that won't work well in email, but ... ============== Scene: a spiritualist rally in the town hall with charismatic host, <supply your own rousing voice> "Tell me, who here has sensed a ghostly presence, a loved one perhaps, from the other side. Raise your hands please" <forest of hands in the air> "See folks, and some would deny that the after life exists. Well just take a look around you." <Applause> "Lets take this a stage further. Who here has seen a 'ghost', one who has passed on" <smaller but still impressive set of raised hands> "Fantastic, the evidence of our most trusted and vital sense, from within our own community" <mutterings of approval> "Now tell me this: has any among us touched a ghost... Reached out to grasp, to hold what some say is lost?" <handful of hands rasied> "Take a look my brethren, take a look at those chosen happy few who have reached beyond the veil" <gasps, whispers> "Now tell me this, yes this: has any here had that most intimate contact, the closest possible in this world or after, has anyone made love to a ghost?" <silence, everyone looks around. One hand is raised near the back, gasps> "My friend, come up here beside me" <starts towards stage> "yes brothers and sisters, one among us had had that beautiful, intimate contact with a loved one from a higher plane. Give him some appreciation" <thunderous applause> And you name my brother?" "Joe black" "Brethren: I give you Joe" <more applause> "Tell us Joe: what was it like to make love to a ghost" "I'm sorry. I though you said goat." ========= Sorry - chris
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Post by dem bones on Sept 9, 2010 19:12:35 GMT
That joke is infinitely more spine-chilling than anything in True Hauntings, give or take the ghost of the randy Cavalier of the Knight's Lodge Inn, Corby, and his ostrich feather of terror. incidentally, i've got a bone to pick with you, chris. Further to your mentioning it on the Angry Dead thread, i loaned a copy Phil Rickman's The Fabric Of Sin from the library today and, what the .... 542 pages? Are you trying to kill me!
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Post by andydecker on Sept 9, 2010 20:02:34 GMT
i loaned a copy Phil Rickman's The Fabric Of Sin from the library today and, what the .... 542 pages? Are you trying to kill me! Is there any of Rickman´s novels which are under the 500 pages mark? I read a couple of his early novels which I liked, but got stuck on his first Watkins novels. Is this series really worth the effort? His new one is a historical novel about Queen Elisabeth and John Dee. Oh, and King Arthur. Doesn´t sound very compelling.
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